Wisconsin DA Shows Sham Of GOP Anti-Union Law

[kpete]

Wed Mar 23, 2011 at 11:50 PM EDT
Wisconsin DA Shows Sham Of GOP Anti-Union Law

by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse



Wisconsin District Attorney Ismael Ozanne filed a legal brief today in response to the Attorney General's legal action seeking to lift the TRO granted by a judge last week to stop the Secretary of State from publishing the anti-union law.

The DA's legal brief adds some context to the complaint he filed recently to hold GOP lawmakers accountable for violating a law designed to enable citizens to participate in their government affairs. The upshot is that the AG seeks to quickly make this anti-union law effective before the courts address violations of law. While the AG argues that there will be irreparable harm if the law is not made effective now, this TRO only remains effective until a hearing for a temporary injunction that is scheduled for March 29 and April 1.

.....................

It is the DA's position that "if the action of the committee is a nullity, then so are the subsequent actions of the Senate, the Assembly and the Governor." The DA quotes Senator Scott Fitzgerald who admitted that this anti-union measure could not become law unless the GOP created the new Joint Conference Committee. Senator Fitzgerald stated that the "Senate is prevented from further establishing its position due to the lack of a special quorum required under" the Wisconsin Constitution and thus "it is time to move this process forward" by creating the Joint Conference Committee. The DA notes that it "is clear" that "but for the voidable action of the Joint Committee of Conference, neither the Senate nor the Assembly could have proceeded further" on the anti-union measure.

This sham is exposed by the DA's lawsuit.

Enactment of this anti-union bill was not possible due to a lack of a quorum in the Senate, so the Senate created this new Joint Conference Committee to handle this "new" anti-union measure that was supposed to be non-fiscal. In order to prevent the public from participating in this legislative process as required by the Open Meeting law, the GOP did not inform the public in a legally required timely manner beforehand about the meeting on this measure or provide notice that they planned to substantially re-write this bill and then they held the meeting in a small room to limit the number of citizens who could attend IF they were fortunate enough to learn about the meeting. The GOP then rammed this anti-union law through the "legislative process" by sending it from the committee to the legislature and then on to the governor for signing. Publication of this measure by the Secretary of State is the last step required to make this anti-union law effective. If the AG prevails, then the legislature and other government entities covered by the open meeting law would have incentive to violate the law, rendering the right of the public to participate in government a sham.

The DA's office emailed me a copy of his supplemental response and his amended complaint, which adds a few more defendants: The Wisconsin Senate, Assembly and a few Democrats. I have not had time to read the amended complaint, but it is reported that the DA also added another claim that "Secretary of State Doug La Follette, already a defendant in the case, doesn’t have the authority to publish the law -- a step needed to put it into effect -- because the measure is invalid." That is, the Secretary of State would exceed his authority if he published this anti-union law because it is the "product of actions that are voidable under the Open Meeting Law." I will add links to these documents when they are published online.

the rest:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/23/959514/-Wisconsin-DA-Shows-Sham-Of-GOP-Anti-Union-Law